Photosynthetic Bacteria Pick Best Light (podcast)

You might say blue-green algae are optimists: they put things in the best possible light—literally. Actually, the organisms aren’t really algae. They’re photosynthetic ocean bacteria. And they can fine-tune their photosynthetic apparatus to take advantage of the predominant wavelength of light. Now researchers have figured out how one of the world’s most abundant phytoplankton control their color change.